Now that DNN 6 has shipped..a few questions:

Are the current AF/AS compatible, tested and approved for DNN 6?
Any roadmap for AS 2.0 / DNN 6.1? (there was a survey a while back so I was curios)
Any plans to leverage the new UI/UX JQuery concepts in the core within AS/AF?

I have to say, DNN 6 is exciting.  In many ways it's renewed my interest in the platform as it shows a level of product maturity that had been lacking until now.  I also think it helps address many of the admin/editor usability issues DNN has had with its somewhat clunky; "you need to know where to find it and what to click" interface.

I'm also excited about what this means for 3rd part module development as perhaps we'll finally see solid integration not only at the object level (user, security, pages etc) but at the UI/UX level as well which tends to take up most of an implementation's timeline (making things look like they fit into the site)

Wouldn't it be nice if you we could finally have the power of DNN but make it easy to look as good as WordPress?  Hoping AS/AF will be leading this charge.

Curious minds want to know. 

Yes. We've been testing for months and haven't found any issues.


I'll have more on this shortly. There will definitely be a AS 2.0.


Yes and No. The products, as they exist today, need to maintain support for older versions of DotNetNuke. The new forum module that will be released on Codeplex will of course use the new patterns. As the various pieces of Active Social are transistioned to the core they will also make use of the new patterns. However, having just gone through a transition with Active Purchase to the New Commerce Module in 6.0, I can say that we still don't have a complete pattern yet that will meet the needs of all modules. From a module admininstration/management perspective we have are nearly there. The Commerce module in DNN 6.0 matches everything from a UI/UX perspective. We want more modules to take this approach as well. One front end, I don't believe you can ever have a pattern that doesn't require some CSS at a module level, but we are getting pretty close.

Will, thanks for the update. Looking forward to understanding the breakdown between AS 2.0 and DNN 6.1. I'm excited about the patterns...a long time coming and as you knio something I think can really unlock DNN as something more than a "techie" platform.

Great news! I'm glad to hear Active Forums is "officially" compatible with DNN6. We've just done a test upgrade for one of our clients with this combination and everything seems to be fine

Cheers,
Brendan.

Thanks for this update, greatly appreciated! :-D

Hi folks,

I have been a bit out of the AS 'loop' as of late so apologies if this question is misplaced, stupid, or both.

I have a site that I am considering deploying active social/forums on. The question is should I just wait for DNN 6 and install that and it will include all of AS/AF for 'free'? Or should I just buy it all again for the new site if I want it soon? What is the time frame for it being in DNN 6?

thanks,

Will Sugg

Hi All,

Just curious about Will's question too . Do we have to re-purchase AS/AF or will it be a part of DNN 6 ?

IIRC - we'll need to wait until DNN 6.1 before AS and the new forum are part of the DNN core. I will say I'm very impressed so far with DNN 6.

I agree with Steven on DNN 6. I have spent much of this weekend on a new site and although some things are a little different, I haven't run across any major usability issues; at least not from my perspective. This is a new site, but I had already set it up using DNN 5.6.3. I did the upgrade to DNN 6 without issue. I am also running Nukeville's Morpheus skin with the DNN 6 version of SkinLab (1.0.6) and it is working as expected.

For me personally, I feel like I have been waiting for years (since 2004 actually) for DNN to get to the maturity level it is at now. Every major version added value, but DNN 6 seems to be finally pulling it all together and I am very happy so far.

I'm running a site which has an "active" AF (about 4000 users), since 2007, dnn 4.1 it was I guess at that time. I was stuck for a long time to upgrade from 4.x to 5.x, and when I did it, I was changing the hosting company also. I installed dnn5 from scratch, install all modules, and it was really disaster to migrate all data from dnn4.x database to dnn5.x database. When you import the users from old db to new db, users have different user id in db level, and when you import AF data, the forum posts shown under different people than the original author, etc., so I had to correct almost all of thousands of posts manually in db. I would love to install dnn6 from scratch, not to carry trash data. Wouldn't be nice to have a utility in AF which reads another db and migrate data to the new db? Or at least having export/import facility?

Ditto for AS da!!!

Any timeframe on that?

thanks

DNN is saying end of 2011.

Posted By Steven Webster on 06 Aug 2011 09:48 AM
DNN is saying end of 2011.

I am really hoping that they don't wait a 5 months to do a point release and resolve some of the known issues.

I am trying to force myself to wait till the end of the year but I have a project that includes social features that I need to start on now. I don't want to spend $399 now on something I can get for free in 4 months. Plus without the opportunity to get the source code for 4 months my project will not be release ready until after DNN 6.1 is released adding another couple weeks for tweaks and changes from then.

Just a few things to keep in mind...

1) The Active Social integration has always been intended for 6.1 or 6.2. While we have been shooting for the end of the year it is possible for schedules do change. Especially when the prior release slipped by almost 3 months. Believe me, I want the integration to be completed just as much as everyone else...if not more.

2) Keep in mind that when you buy an Enterprise license you also receive 1-year of support. That means that once the integration is complete and you will have access to direct support should you encounter any upgrade issues.

3) Active Social and Active Forums are two different products. The new forum module will be available before DotNetNuke 6.1.

4) As stated when the acquisition was first announced, Active Social and Active Forums will remain available for purchase under their existing licensing models until the products are part of the core.

I will post another update once I have more information to share.

Thanks,
Will

So just to layout a high level road map to help with some internal planning.  Can you provide confirmation of the following high level road map assumptions?:

AS 1.9.4 - bug fixes and journal "like" functionality.  ETA Will release this week
AS 2.0 (?) - Pre DNN 6.1 release, includes top four or five features voted on my community members.   
AF to Core - Pre DNN 6.1 release, replaces core forums and AF.  Will AF forum users will have a migration path to new core forum (even when used with AS), does this retire AF as separate, paid module, will it be integrated with AS will the module and source available from DNN ???  ETA - Fall 2011 (Pre DNN 6.1)
DNN 6.1 - Includes new core forum (previously AF) and new core social (previously AS) upgrade path for AF/AS customers, integrated with core DNN, specific new functionality no defined, ETA 6.1 release.  Slip possible to 6.2.  ETA on 6.2 unknown.

Any plans to release a feature specific road map with DNN version targets by 6.1?  That would be helpful.

Active Social 1.9.4 was released this morning for Enterprise. Express and Standard will be posted tomorrow.


Yes. Active Social 2.0 will be released before November.

Correct.

Yes.

Yes

If you are still referring to the new forum module, then yes.


Can't really add any more details on this one other than what I stated above. When I have more details I'll share them.

I do not see AS Ent  1.9.4 in my profile downloads.

Yep same here. I still only see 1.9.1 and AF 4.3.3. After the last round of trying to get this straight I was told to PM Will with my invoice number showing that I was an Enterprise customer as of some date in February 2011. I did that and nothing changed. So now there is apparently a 1.9.4 release and I don't see it either. Not sure what to do now.

I hope I am not seeming like a cheapskate but it sure would helpful and appreciated if Active had some deal with DNN that would allow free (or an order of magnitude) lower access to AF and AS. Are you still really selling that many copies now @ $399 to people knowing it will be free in a few months? Maybe you could talk with them about doing a free release before it is in the core? Having more users might even help with troubleshooting core integration.

I have a couple of 'lower tier' sites (like for school projects, sports leagues, local musicians, etc.) where I do not have a client ponying up bigger bucks that AS/AF would be great for. I am itching to get going on these but just can't justify the cost at this point and do not really like cobbling them into the same installation.

Thanks for considering.

Will

Will,

Will S.-

I understand your unwillingness to spend $399 on something that will be free - I'm kind of in the same boat. But I think the time frame for AS inclusion into the DNN framework discussed here is very optimistic.

While I have no inside knowledge what-so-ever my educated guess is June or July 2012 at the earliest with the possibility of that slipping to Sept./Oct. 2012. I would guess that the new forum module might make it here by March/April 2012. There are a couple of unknown's at this time - A) How well attendance goes at the new conference this Nov. and B) How well PE is selling when it gets close to the DNN version (6.2 - 6.4) that has AS in it. If PE is selling well then they will probably release both PE and CE with AS in it. If not it will probably be a staged release with PE getting it 3 to 6 mos or so before CE.

So if you can wait possibly up to a year from now then I would - if not you don't have many options other than paying for it.

Again, I have no inside knowledge so these are just guesses. We'll have to wait and see how close my guess is!

From Shaun's keynote at DNNWorld it looks like I was right (unfortunately) - Active Forums into core in Q2 2012 and AS into core in Q4 2012.

Although I could still be wrong - AS could get pushed to 2013. Of course we still need to wait and see how well PE is selling at that time in order to know if AS will be included in CE or not. Judging by the 6.0 and 6.1 releases I wouldn't hold my breath.

Just for the record, Greg's comments are 100% pure speculation on his part. Absolutely nothing in Shaun's keynote said anything about what Greg stated above. While the keynote did give a high level expectation for 6.2 and 6.3, it said nothing about Active Forums.

I'll say it again, if it is a feature in Active Social today, it will be in Community edition!

I believe I stated that my comments were speculation (twice):

1) "While I have no inside knowledge what-so-ever.."
2) "Again, I have no inside knowledge so these are just guesses."

The purpose of my comments was not to step on your toes Will (or anyone else's) rather they were an attempt to help a fellow community member decide whether to buy now or wait for core inclusion.

"While the keynote did give a high level expectation for 6.2 and 6.3, it said nothing about Active Forums." I'm not entirely sure I know what that means. Kind of sounds like it should be in a legal document - you know, the kind of documents that say a lot but tell you nothing? I do have to admit, I've seen Joe dance around questions in the forums many times over the years but I don't recall him doing so with such eloquence! Kudos! With regards to the "it said nothing about Active Forums" part, having just reviewed the section of Shaun's keynote dealing with this again, I find that Shaun mentioned Active Modules, Active Forums, and Active Social so it is really not clear exactly what the plan is. Having been told numerous times in this forum that Active Forums will be included in the core before Active Social I thought it a logical assumption that the Q2 release would be Active Forums and the Q4 release Active Social.

The new forum, which will replace Active Forums and the Core Forums, has nothing to do with DotNetNuke 6.2 or 6.3. The new forum is under development now and will be released before DotNetNuke 6.2. The new forum isn't included in the core, it's a Codeplex project and handled just like the Core Forum has been handled for years.

I understand that the new forum module will not be in the core. So is the new forum going to include any significant added features, like the things that were slated for AF 5, or is this more of an integration with recent DNN Core changes like mobile? Just curious what it will include.

I do not want to lose Mail Connector. What are my options other than going Pro/Ent?

I have to say this was tough to read in the context of this discussion:

DotNetNuke Holiday Promotion
Get Social! Free Active Social App with Any Multi-Year Purchase of DotNetNuke

Hello Will,

One of the most popular modules in our online store, Active Social is the complete social solution for your DotNetNuke website. And now you can get it for free! Through the end of 2011, we are offering a complimentary license for Active Social (a $399 value) with any purchase of a multi-year license of the DotNetNuke Professional or Enterprise Editions. Active Social offers customizable user profiles, groups, private messages and events and all the tools needed to deploy an online community with one simple installation.

Learn More

With the DotNetNuke Professional and Enterprise Editions, you get the leading Web CMS for Microsoft .Net that powers over 700,000 web sites worldwide and powerful features like:

* High Performance Caching
* Integrated eCommerce
* Advanced Content Workflows
* Cloud Storage Integration
* Granular Permissions
* Mobile Content Delivery
* Content Staging
* SharePoint Integration
* World-Class Technical Support

If you are interested in DotNetNuke, now is an excellent time to sign up for a subscription and take advantage of this offer to receive Active Social at no additional cost. You can call (650) 288 – 3150), email (marketing@dotnetnuke.com) or have us call you to learn more.



Learn More